'Melting Moments'

Melting Moments are the heirs to custard creams. Their short-bready texture makes them the perfect accompaniment to a nice cup of tea - the prefect tea time treat! Smooth buttercream sandwiched between sweet and crunchy biscuits. We added a touch of red food colouring to the icing for decoration. We also dusted our COAB (Confessions of a Bake-a-holic) heart logo onto the top of our biscuits with icing sugar to make them our own.

Ingredients:

• 200g unsalted butter, softened.
• 190g icing sugar, plus more for dusting.
• 155g plain flour
• 140g corn flour

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C, gas mark 4. Line/grease two baking trays with baking paper or butter.

2. For the biscuits, sift all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and add the butter. Mix well with an electric mixer.

3. Using your hands roll tablespoonfuls of the mixture into about 24 small balls. Place the bowls on the baking trays. Gently press down on the top of each biscuit with a fork to flatten them so they are almost doubled in size.

4. Bake for about 9 minutes until they're light, golden brown. Don't leave them in too long or they will become too crispy.

5. When they have cooled, dollop a spoonful of icing in the center of one disc and place another of the biscuits on top to sandwich them together. We have used our own recipe for the butter cream icing. Click here to see the link.

6. Dust with icing sugar to decorate. We used a heart stencil to dust on the COAB logo.

This recipe was slightly deceiving. Many of the claims made by the authors turned out to be inaccurate. Because of this we had to tweak it in a few places and use some creativity when decorating to hide the discrepancies. The biscuits were tasty overall, but slightly over-sweet and filling. 3/5

Quick n' Easy Ginger Nuts

Ginger Nuts

I've bought Ginger Nuts a couple of times, but never made them at home- and they are by far better home-made! The ingredients are common so are easy to find in the shops, and the method is brilliantly simple and quick- anyone can make them!

Ingredients
(Makes 16)

• 4oz (110g) self-raising flour
• 1 slightly rounded tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 1/2 (40g) sugar
• 2oz (50g) margarine
• 2 tbsp golden syrup

Method
1)  Preheat the oven to gas mark 5, 375°F (190°C).  Line with grease-proof paper or grease a medium or large baking tray.
2)  Measure flour, ginger, sugar and bicarbonate of soda into a mixing bowl.  Then, lightly rub in the margarine (Tip: Putting the margarine in the microwave for a couple of seconds will help make it easier to use) until the mixture is crumbly.
3)  Add the syrup and mix until a stiff paste is formed.

4)  Divide the mixture into small balls and place on the baking tray.  Lightly press them down with the back of a spoon, still leaving at least a 1cm gap between each one.
5) Put in the oven for 10 minutes.  When they come out, leave to cool for 10 minutes as well.  Bear in mind the will be very soft when taken out of the oven, so lift them carefully so that they don't break.  The will harden as they cool.

I love this recipe simply because it is so so quick and easy whilst giving great results! 5/5

Happy baking!

Confession #6

Tip: When baking something in the oven, wait at least half way through the baking time before opening the oven.  The heat will escape and disturb the rising of what you are baking.

A piece of pizza!

Mushroom and Bacon Pizza

 This pizza is soft, stretchy and fluffy. Very basic and simple to make this great dish!

Ingredients

1. 290ml hand-hot water
2. 2 tbsp Olive oil
3. 1/2 tsp Salt
4. 1 tsp Sugar
5. 480g Strong bread/plain white flour
6. 2 1/2 tsp Yeast

Method
1) Mix the sugar and yeast into the jug of water.  Whisk until mixed and leave to stand for about 10 minutes until it starts to get frothy.

2) Meanwhile, measure out the flour and sift into a large bowl. Add the sugar and salt.

3) Create a well in the dry ingredients; pour the olive oil into the well and mix.  Then, create a second well and gradually add the yeast, salt and water mixture into it (while mixing in-between). You may have to add a extra drop of warm water.  You should have a  ball of dough that leaves the bowl clean.

4) Next, place the dough onto a clean, floured surface. Knead thoroughly until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.

5) Return the dough to the bowl and cover with clingfilm or a tea-towel. Place in a warm area until the dough has doubled in size this will take about an hour.

6) Place the dough onto a floured surface and knock down to it's original size. Tear the dough in two and press each half onto it's own tray. Do this by pushing it down with your knuckles and gradually stretch it to fit the whole tray.  Be careful not to tear the dough.

7) Now, put your chosen toppings onto your pizza.  Remember to start with the tomato paste and then the cheese.

8) Place your pizza onto the top shelf of the oven and cook until golden-brown.

9) Enjoy your pizza!

This pizza is very nice, but did not live up to what I expected.  It was good, but, even though it is simple to make, the effort put into it was not worth the taste. 3/5

Happy baking!